Response expected in Okla. same-sex marriage case

TULSA, Okla. — Attorneys for an Oklahoma lesbian couple suing to have their marriage recognized in the state are expected to make a court filing in the case.

Documents on behalf of the Tulsa couple, Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin, are due Monday at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

The filing is a response to a brief by the Alliance Defending Freedom group, which has challenged gay marriage in Oklahoma. The ADF claimed in a recent filing that legalizing gay marriage would threaten traditional marriages.

U.S. District Judge Terence Kern determined in January that Oklahoma’s voter-approved ban on gay marriage violated the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause.

Bishop and Baldwin filed their lawsuit in 2004, after Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly passed the constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage in the state.